Evaluating your progress - Part 4

Getting my body back - Day 37

Putting together a progress report

When putting together a progress report, decide what area or areas you want to track. There may be several areas you want to track but you don't want to become overwhelmed. Focusing on one area at a time allows you to zoom in to get the best results. When you see progress in this area, you'll be encouraged to focus on another.

1) Start by creating a chart. Choose the area you're working on i.e. ideal weight

2) What you want to track, i.e. workout routine, break it down into aerobics, strength training, nutrition etc.

3) Record your progress in each column

4) Date of your evaluation; whether it's daily, weekly or monthly

How often should you track your progress?

Depending on what you're working on, you may need to track and evaluate daily, others weekly or monthly. Or you can use a combination of these.

Start with what you feel is best or what works for you and then make adjustments from there. Or you can choose different areas within your goal to track daily and others weekly or monthly.

For my ideal weight goal, tracking my daily eating habits is a good way to stay on top of things. At the end of the day, I look back on what I've had to eat that day. For my workout routine, I evaluate weekly to see if I need to add more repetitions or change it. For weight reduction, I assess this monthly.

Fuelling words: I track my progress regularly to keep me focused on my goal.

Routine: Warm-ups, stretches, aerobics, toning and strength exercises, cool down.

Visualization - keeping focus on my goal; healthy, strong and my ideal body weight and shape.

Deep breathing - relaxes the muscles and sends oxygen to the muscles where exercising alone would not reach.